ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former U.S. diplomat who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen has for the second time been found liable for enslaving and trafficking a woman who worked as a housekeeper.
The Washington Post reports a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday agreed that Linda Howard and her late husband Russell Howard forced an Ethiopian maid into sexual slavery in 2008. Linda Howard, who left the State Department in 2013, was ordered to pay $3 million in damages to the woman, who lives in Virginia. Howard’s husband died in 2012.
Linda Howard denied the allegations and argued the woman couldn’t sue for civil damages under a human trafficking law that didn’t pass until 2008.
The couple, who had fled to Australia, was previously found liable for trafficking another Ethiopian housekeeper.
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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
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